Ever since Legal Insurrection broke the story that NY-23 Democratic challenger Martha Robertson sent a fundraising email claiming that “GOP Ops” had been “caught” trying to take down her website, Robertson has been on the defensive.

The Robertson campaign has never provided any proof that GOP operatives attempted to hack her website and eventually was forced to back off that claim. The website never was down, and the “hacking” claim likely nothing more than routine server problems. A local Republican leaderasked for an investigation by the FBI and U.S. Attorney’s office as to whether the Robertson campaign violated any laws.

During an interview with Roll Call, Robertson tried to deflate the controversy by promising to hire a cybersecurity firm to provide proof of the hacking:

“We’re working to hire a cyber-security firm to take a serious look at that and investigate everything that happened. Beyond that it’s really better to leave it up to them,” Robertson said. “At the end of the day I think … it’s beyond a distraction. [Voters] are concerned about their pocketbook issues — whether or not their Social Security and Medicare payments are going to be there as they depend on them.”

For months Legal Insurrection has been pressing the Robertson campaign as to whether it hired the forensic firm, but has been met with stone cold silence. Nothing. Not the courtesy of a response.

Now we know why. Robertson never hired the firm, and has no plans to do so.

Robertson’s campaign has double-talked the reason she’s dropping the investigation, claiming her site is now secure so there’s no need for the cybersecurity firm. But the cybersecurity firm was to be hired to provide proof of her fundraising claim, not to provide security.

A local congressional candidate now says she will not be hiring a cyber-security firm to look into claims that someone hacked her campaign’s website….

After the campaign’s 4th quarter FEC filing came out, WETM looked at their expenditures. There was no indication the campaign had hired a cyber-security firm.

When WETM asked the Robertson campaign about the lack of any cyber-security related expenditure, campaign manager Jordanna Zeigler said, “We looked into the matter and found that there were 9 SQL Injection attacks on our website in a very short period of time. Since these attacks were unsuccessful, no police report was filed. We felt we had adequate protections and securities that did not require any further investment but we stand vigilant against any possible attempts to sabotage our campaign.”

We will continue to follow this story and to demand answers as to whether Robertson will apologize and return the money solicited on false pretenses.